Presidential Campaign Baggage:
Let's start with the biggie: Lots of people, including lots of Texas voters, first paid attention to Cruz during the presidential campaign.

They did not like what they saw.

Cruz's primary problem, before any others, is that he's been all over the map on Trump: First he was for him. Then he was against him. Then he dissed him at the convention. Then he caved on the convention diss. Then he spent the past two years getting as close to Trump as possible.

That doesn't look good.

Those decisions made sense at the time. But they've combined to create a bad impression (especially among those who don't follow politics closely). That's reality.

If you're a member of the original #CruzCrew, you have to understand most of the public never met the Ted Cruz you got to know in 2012. In all likelihood, they've never met Ted. If you've known the junior U.S. Senator from Texas long enough that you call him by his first name, you're not a typical voter.

And the whole convention diss/cave has proven disastrous. If you're going to do something like that, stick with it. If you're not going to stick with it, don't do it in the first place.

-------

Bad non-verbal communication:
This is another one that people who interact with Ted Cruz personally have trouble grasping: He doesn't come across well on TV or in a large group setting.

A lot of the time, Ted Cruz is physically tense. HE'S LITERALLY A STIFF. It's just part of who he is, but it's a big problem.

It's why he gives so many people (who've never met him) the heebie-jeebies.

Against a candidate like O'Rourke who, whatever his other flaws, is clearly comfortable in his own skin, this was almost fatal.

-------

An arrogant, insular, campaign:
Who gets into a two week argument with your strongest supporters over yard signs?!?

The 2018 Ted Cruz re-election campaign, that's who!!!

It would be impossible to list the number of complaints we've heard from core, longstanding, supporters over the past year. These are the people who will bring voters to the polls on your behalf on their own time and dime. Ted Cruz has plenty of them in Texas.

And the Cruz campaign forced them to waste time arguing with them.

-------

Failure to effectively define O'Rourke:
The Cruz campaign defined O'Rourke as an "open borders socialist." That's not wrong. But to the average person, it's a bunch of buzzwords.

Furthermore, those type of buzzwords only strengthened O'Rourke's connection with his own supporters.

During this campaign, we pointed out over and over and over again that O'Rourke has been nothing more than a typical Texas politician throughout his career.

Had the Cruz campaign pushed this narrative, it could have shattered the idea that O'Rourke was anything "fresh" or "new" or "post-partisan."

While Cruz's campaign did use the El Paso eminent domain story, it did so with a fraction of the effectiveness that could have been. Imagine the wedge issue this could have been with O'Rourke's younger supporters. O'Rourke literally used the power of government to take the houses of poor/middle income Hispanics to give to his rich Daddy-in-law.

Speaking of O'Rourke's daddy-in-law, how come we only found out that guy's worth $20 BILLIONfrom Glenn Beck less than a week before election day?!?

It was the worst failure at defining your opponent since McCain and Obama.

-------

Borris FRIGGIN' Miles:
Obviously, this one's a personal pet peeve; it combines the insularity of the campaign with their failure to effectively define O'Rourke.

On September 24, this website discovered that O'Rourke had recently held a campaign event with Borris Miles. Yes, THIS BORRIS MILES. For those unaware, Borris Miles is one of the best known skeezballs in the Texas legislature (see previous hyperlink).

This was another opportunity to drive a wedge between O'Rourke and his younger supporters. We told the Cruz campaign. They did nothing.

At any point during the presidential campaign, last year's Congressional debate, or this year's re-elect campaign...if Ted Cruz has put together a "health care freedom" plan, we wouldn't be in the mess we currently find ourselves.

-------

We've seen and heard (*) talk about shortcomings of various campaign staff. There's probably some truth to some of it. It's probably also true that a lot of is score-settling by consultants looking for future business. Regardless, all final decisions on a campaign rest with the candidate.

* -- And EXPERIENCED (see previous section on Borris Miles).

-------

Barring some sort outside event that changes public perceptions, Ted Cruz is DONE as a presidential candidate.